An experienced natural history and botanical illustrator, Lizzie’s work appears in books and magazines around the world, on postage stamps and mugs. She lives very happily in Hay on Wye, and works her garden studio surrounded by plants and birds.
Explore my website and discover:
If you’re interested in finding out what I’m working on at the moment, follow my blog or find me on instagram.
For details of Lizzie’s workshops, exhibitions, and information about greetings cards and ordering prints, click on the links.
Below are some links to Lizzie’s latest blogs and Instagram posts.
This week's blog is all about how to tell Sedges, Grasses, and Rushes apart.
https://lizzieharper.co.uk/2022/07/sedges-grasses-and-rushes-telling-the-families-apart/
It's based on a recent course I attended, on the famous botanist's rhyme, "Sedges have edges, Rushes are round, & Grasses have knees from their tips to the ground"....along with a wonderful chart by Fiona Gomersall which I've adapted.
Thing is, these glorious monocots are so often overlooked. And they shouldn't be. They really reward a second look. I think they're some of the most beautiful and elegant plants out there. And they are SOOO lovely to illustrate"
So make a cuppa, take 10 minutes, and have a look at my blog as a way to start spending a whole lot more time in the wonderous world of Grasses, Sedges, and Rushes.
#grasses #poaceae #graminaceae #sedges #carex #rushes #truerushes #rush #woodrush #luzula #ligules #stems #nodes #utricles #spikelets #glumes #botanicalillustration #botanicalart #illustration #identification #botany #notahobby #drawinggrass #drawingsedges #drawingrushes #botanical
Recent commission for a packaging company.
They wanted an apple with a half...then decided to go for a slice instead. With some photoshop wizardry I managed to edit it and removed the half, printed out the remaining bits of the apple onto cartridge paper, then add the slice in by hand. Just about got away with it!
There's a whole lot of stippling in this baby, and I think it's worked out OK.
#apple #malus #appleillustration #packagingdesign #botanical #botanicaillustration #stippling #monochrome #black-and-white #penandink #stipple #botanicalart #goingdotty #sciart
Just completed this Short-eared Owl Short-eared Asio flammeus, peering out from the heather.
The Short-eared Owl is a daytime hunter, and is a top predator, favouring voles. They like coastal marshes, wetlands, and heath. Although in winter you can see migratory Short-eared owls across the UK, in summer they're far more common in Scotland and the north where they nest in scrapes in moors and uplands.
You can identify this species as it'll be out in daytime. It has golden eyes (the Long eared owl has orange eyes) and distinctive, short ear-tufts. It's about the same size as a Barn owl, but has longer wings.
There were struggles with illustrating the owl, sorting out feathers, and of course trying to make the ears look realistic rather than absurd. The eyes were a lot of fun, though. Getting him to glare, properly.
It was the heather that took much more time. Each plant was outlined in paint, then had a series of washes before I worked into the darker areas in the greens with a purple mix. In reality, heathland is less green, but I wanted to enhance the purples and reds of the heather so introduced quite a bit of grass to offset the reds.
It's a private commission, which I was lucky enough to have time to squeeze in between other jobs.
#owl #shortearedowl #raptor #heathland #heath #erica #heather #Asioflammeus #naturalhistoryillustration #naturahistory #sciart #naturalscience #naturalscienceillustration #birdart #ornithology #birdillustration #ornithologicaillustration #UKowls
Lizzie Harper Newsletter June 2022 - https://mailchi.mp/32193df9e13a/lizzie-harper-newsletter-june-2022
Lizzie's Neswsletter talks about her latest jobs, upcoming commissions & workshops, offers original artwork for sale, and has useful links to her blogs and films.
There's a butterfly for the V&A, books published, a flora illustrated, mugs produced, honeysuckle & fungus painted, decorative coins, & a fold out guide to woodland plants published.
If you'd like an insight into the working life of a full-time botanical / sciart illustrator, take a look?
#botanicalillustration #workingillustrator #notahobby (really not) #sciart #naturalhistoryillustration #butterflies #flowers #winelabel #packaging #flower guide #mugdesign #bookillustration
Delighted to have been longlisted for the prestigious World Illustration Awards 2022, for my illustrations of fruit and plants, used in Fernway's packaging.
The longlist is selected from over 5,000 entries, and across all categories there are 500 entries chosen
I love the way these illustrations look; the design team reversed out and coloured my original pen and ink drawings. Seeing your work in design contexts is always a treat, even more so when it gets longlisted!
See the entry here:
https://theaoi.com/wia/lizzie-harper-fernway-packaging-pen-and-ink-illustrations-for-range-of-botanically-flavoured-products/
#WIA #wia2022 #worldillustrationawards #Aoi #associationofillustrators #packagingdesign #botanicalillustration @theaoi @dirillustration @fernway
It has to be said, lying on your tummy sketching Speedwell flowers in a meadow like this is no hardship at all when the landscape looks like it does.
The heavens did open and the painting got very soggy, but it was still a perfect day. I got to go on a nature walk in Cilau farm, led by Ray Woods (local eminent bryologist and all round mine of infirmation).
We even found a wax cap that might be new to Wales!
#botanicalillustration #enpleinair #sketchbook #nature journal #radnorshirewildlifetrust
This is the extraordinarily tiny Holly parachute fungus, Marasmius Hudsonii
It grows in damp leaf litter, exclusively on fallen Holly leaves. Which is a bit of a challenge as Holly is evergreen...
The fruiting bodies are tiny ivory caps with long microscopic setae or hairs. The stipes emerge from a basal mat of blackish hyphae, and are flushed mahogany toward their base. It's pretty rare (or possibly much overlooked), and I think it's incredibly elegant.
And it grows just up the road from here, in St. Mary's Churchyard, in Cusop
#hollyparchutefungus #Holly #fungus #fungi #marasmius #marianiushudsonii #botanicalillustration #fungalart #paintingmushrooms #thisentangledlife #botanicalart #mycology #tinythings #deadlines #nature #naturalhistoryillustration
This week's blog is about how I illustrated the landscape and wildlife for this year's @hayfestival Commemorative mug:
https://lizzieharper.co.uk/2022/06/hay-festival-mug-design/
From initial ideas to pencil roughs, to curving the illustration and through the "colouring-in" process, have a read if you'd like to see how a project like this is done.
Mgs can be bought in person or online at https://www.hayfestival.com/p-18853-hay-festival-2022-celebration-mug.aspx
#hayfestival2022 #botanicalillustreation #wildlofeart #naturalshitroyillustration #naturalscienceillustration #mugdesign #mugs #butterflies #hayonwye #haybluff @duchesschina1888
Lizzie has many original illustrations for sale.
In all cases, email her on info@lizzieharper.co.uk if you’d like to buy one of these natural history paintings, drawings, or studies.
Below is an illustrated list of all her original work currently on sale, divided into framed and unframed categories, and subject matter.
